More than half of Irish people (53%) want to see the Seanad scrapped, according to a new Millward Brown poll conducted for the Sunday Independent.

Only seven percent want to keep the upper house as it is, while 30 percent would like to see it reformed.

Prime minister Enda Kenny has said that getting rid of the chamber is central to the government's political reform plan, reports TheJournal.ie. However, the Seanad's supporters say that abolishing it won't save money.

A referendum on the issue is expected next fall.

The upper house of the Oireaschtas, which just marked its 90th anniversary was scrapped in 1936 for blocking many of Eamon de Valera's reform plans but was recreated only a  year later under the new Irish constitution of 1937.